The present invention relates to a process for producing an oxirane compound. More particularly, the invention relates to a process for producing an oxirane compound from ethylbenzene hydroperoxide and an olefin in the presence of an immobilized catalyst bed, wherein said process for producing an oxirane compound has excellent characteristics that it can prevent a runaway of a reaction accompanied with generation of heat and can be stably carried out under a high yield.
Techniques for producing an oxirane compound from ethylbenzene hydroperoxide and an olefin in the presence of an immobilized catalyst bed have been publicly known. Since the reaction producing an oxirane compound from ethylbenzene hydroperoxide and an olefin is an exothermic reaction, there have been problems that the reaction accompanies a sudden generation of heat in the immobilized catalyst bed, thereby making difficult a stable run, and sometimes not only the catalyst is deteriorated but also the yield is lowered.
An object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing an oxirane compound from ethylbenzene hydroperoxide and an olefin in the presence of an immobilized catalyst bed, wherein said process for producing an oxirane compound has excellent characteristics that it can prevent a runaway of a reaction accompanied with generation of heat and can be stably carried out with a high yield.
Namely, the present invention relates to a process for producing an oxirane compound from ethylbenzene hydroperoxide and an olefin in the presence of an immobilized catalyst bed, wherein the process satisfies the following conditions (1) to (4):
(1) the catalyst bed is divided into n catalyst beds and the catalyst beds are used in series, wherein n is an integer of 2 or more,
(2) fresh ethylbenzene hydroperoxide is divided into portions, which are supplied to respective inlets of the catalyst beds,
(3) fresh olefin is supplied to the inlet of the first catalyst bed, and
(4) the reaction mixture discharged from each outlet of respective catalyst beds excluding the final catalyst bed is supplied to the inlet of the subsequent catalyst bed.